Fresha banked €75.5M ($80M) in growth funding led by KKR via its Next Generation Technology Growth fund. The investment values the London-based company at more than €940M ($1B), officially confirming its status as a unicorn.
The startup operates a booking marketplace and management software suite for the beauty and wellness industry. It allows consumers to discover and book appointments with salons and spas, while providing businesses with tools for scheduling, point-of-sale transactions, and inventory management. The platform currently supports over 140,000 businesses processing 35 million appointments per month.
This latest round brings Fresha’s total capital raised to roughly €270M ($285M). The company last tapped the markets in 2021, and has since more than doubled its business network from 60,000 partners. Management intends to use the fresh liquidity to finance international expansion and integrated machine learning features for its booking systems.
As large-scale private equity increasingly targets vertical SaaS, Fresha’s move to a billion-dollar valuation reflects the ongoing consolidation of merchant services within niche service sectors across the UK and Europe.
Originally reported by TechCrunch.